The Perfect Christmas
by BabyK1
Summary: Max and Logan spend Christmas together.


Logan is seen sitting in a chair next to a huge Christmas tree. He is helplessly working on untangling a wad of tree lights. Mariah Carey's Christmas album is playing on the CD player in the background. It's Christmas Eve and Logan is trying to sort out decorations for when Max arrives. He had called her the day before and invited her to spend Christmas with him at his family's cabin in the mountains. This time though he was going to make sure they actually get there.  
  
Max is sitting in her bedroom in the apartment that she and Original Cindy share. Cindy has Christmas music playing in the kitchen. Max smiles as she stuffs a big red sweater into her bag and tosses it onto the floor. She walks into the kitchen as the doorbell rings. She opens the door to see Normal standing there.  
  
"Hey Normal, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Well Max, I have a package for Cindy. Sign here." he says pointing to a sheet of paper.  
  
"Normal I work for you, I know where to sign. Where did it come from anyways?"  
  
"The address is right on the package. Merry Christmas Max. Bye" Normal says in a hurry as he rushes away.  
  
Max walks into the kitchen and hands the package to Cindy.  
  
"Hey what's this boo?" Cindy asks raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I dunno, Normal dropped it off for you."  
  
Cindy opens the package to find a rather large fruitcake.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Max asks in awe.  
  
"This is what us normal people call fruitcake. It's one of the more awful Christmas traditions." Cindy says setting it down on a stack of paper. "Makes a great paperweight though." Cindy says laughing.   
  
Logan finally sets down the lights and gives up. Just then Bling walks in.  
  
"Hey Logan, I got something for you. Now I know you told me not to get you anything but since when do I listen to you." Bling says as he hands Logan a small box. Logan opens the box and pulls out a thin chain with a small wheelchair charm dangling from it. "It's so you don't forget me after you disappear with Max." Bling says chuckling.  
  
"Bling man, I wouldn't forget you and I'm not going anywhere. Not for a long time anyways. Me and Max are just going to go to my cabin up in the mountains."  
"Yeah sure man. Well I just wanted to drop this off. I'm going back to St. Louis to visit with my family." With that Bling hugs Logan and walks out the door.   
  
Max and Cindy are sitting on the couch in their apartment. Cindy hands Max a gift.  
  
"This is for you. It's not much but I thought you'd like it." Cindy says as Max open the box. Inside is a little charm with the letters TJEZ on it. "It's the initials of the siblings you lost so you can keep them near your heart. Logan gave me the idea." Max reaches over and gives Cindy a hug and pulls out a small box of her own.  
  
"And this is for you." Cindy opens the box and inside is a picture of Diamond taken when she was visiting them. "I took this picture one night. I don't know why, I just did." Cindy wipes away a tear and stands up.  
  
"Well boo, you better be getting on over to Logan's house. Aren't you leaving in like a half an hour?"  
  
"Oh shit, I'm late. OK well I'll see you in a few days." Max says as she hurries out of the house.  
  
Logan is in his kitchen putting a carton of eggnog into a cooler when Max walks in.   
  
"Hey Max, look we have a change of plans."  
  
"What? We aren't going to stay at the cabin are we?"  
  
"Oh no that's not it. We're still staying at the cabin, except well my family wants to spend the holidays with us. I'm not sure why but I said it was OK. Do you mind?"  
  
"No Logan, it's great, who's going to be there?"  
  
"Well, my cousin and her husband and my aunt and uncle. I think that's it though."  
  
"Great, OK well we're already late getting started. We better get a move on if we want to   
make it there by dark." Max says.  
  
In the car Max is watching the beautiful scenery flying by.  
  
"Logan, this isn't the way we came last time?"  
  
"I know, but it's not the Cale Family cabin, we're going to the cabin my moms family owns."  
  
Logan parks his car in front of a large two story log cabin. A thick blanket of snow covers the roof and a big Christmas tree can be seen in the front window and there is a huge reindeer outline on the wall next to the door.  
"It's beautiful!" Max says.  
  
"Yeah, leave it to my family to go all out." Logan says opening his door.   
  
"I can't wait." Max says as she steps out of the car and helps Logan with the bags.   
  
Inside Carmen and her husband Marcus are sitting next to the tree putting up big Christmas bulbs on the tree. Logan's aunt Lori and uncle Joseph are in the kitchen baking cookies. Logan opens the door and walks in with Max right behind him. He drops his bags on the floor as Carmen rushes over and hugs him.  
  
"Hey Logan, long time no see. How are you? What have you been doing? How's Seattle?" She asks bombarding him with questions.  
  
"Well, I'm fine, not doing much of anything at the moment. Just trying to get by. How are you?"  
  
"I'm great we're all great, all three of us." Carmen says placing a hand on her stomach.  
  
"Three of you? Oh my gosh, that's great." Logan says scooping her up in a big bear hug.  
  
Just then Lori and Joseph walk in.   
  
"Logan, I though that was your voice I heard." Lori says grabbing Logan in a hug.  
  
"Hello Logan, how are you son?" Joseph asks grasping Logans hand in a firm handshake.   
  
"I'm fine. Everyone, I can't believe I'm being so rude. This is Max." Logan says taking Max's hand in his own.  
  
"Hello Max, I'm Carmen, this is Marcus, my mom Lori and my father Joseph." Carmen says introducing each person and giving Max a hug.  
  
"It's nice to meet you all." Max says setting her bags down.  
  
"Marcus why don't you show Max and Logan up to their room." Carmen says.  
  
Without missing a beat Marcus grabs Max and Logan's bags and leads them upstairs to a big room. Max looks in awe taking in all the decorations. Green garland wrapped around the bed posts, green and red lights along the trim of the walls, and little snowflakes in the windows, and a green and red bedspread.  
  
"Your bathroom is right there," Marcus says pointing to a closed door. "you can put your stuff in those drawers." Once your done unpacking you should come down, dinner will be ready in about a half an hour." He says as he walks out of the room and shuts the door.  
  
"He's quite formal about setting us up huh?" Max says giggling.  
  
"Yeah, well he's a bellboy at the Hilton. He probably says that so much everyday that he forgets we're family." Logan says setting their bags on the bed and opens his.   
  
"Your family is really nice, nothing like the Cale side." Max says she opens her bag and starts putting stuff in drawers.  
  
Later Logan and Max walks down the stairs hand in hand. Carmen and Marcus are sitting at the table and Joseph is bringing out a large bowl of stew, right behind him is Lori, she's carrying three smaller bowls of different things. Max rushes over to her.  
  
"Here, let me help you with that." she says taking a bowl from Lori.  
  
"Thank you dear, you can just set it down anywhere."   
  
Max sets the bowl down next to the stew and sits down next to Logan.   
  
"So Max, how long have you and my dear nephew been together?" Lori asks as she sits down at one end of the table.   
  
"Well, I've known Logan for about a year and a half. You could say I met him when I was working." Max replies as Logan takes her dish and begins to serve her.   
  
"That's nice. What do you do?" Joseph asks.  
  
"Well, I was a bike messenger but lately I've been straying from the job."  
  
Everyone quiets down and Max looks around thinking to herself 'this could be the perfect Christmas'.  
  
Logan and Max are back in their room. Max has changed into a white tank top and a pair of red plaid flannel boxers. Logan is wearing green and blue plaid pants.  
  
"This place is great. It's so quiet, all I can hear is the animals in the woods." Max says referring to her elevated hearing.  
  
"Yeah, I used to come here when I was a kid. I always loved to have Christmas here. I felt I was accepted. Nothing like the Cale side of the family." Logan says sliding into bed.  
  
"Yeah, I wish I had a place like this for my family." Max says as she joins Logan in bed.  
  
The next morning Max wakes up to see snow falling to the ground. A new blanket has covered everything in sight. Logan stirs a little and sits up.  
  
"Hey Max, g'morning and Merry Christmas. I'm gonna jump into the shower. Could you get my dark blue jeans and my cream colored sweater out of the middle drawer for me? Just set them on the bed." Logan says in a daze as he stumbles into the bathroom.   
  
Max climbs out of bed and pulls open the drawer she is greeted by the sweet smell of Logan. She pulls out the clothes Logan wanted and then pulls out a pair of black pants and the big red sweater she had packed earlier. She sets them on the bed next to Logan's. She then starts her morning routine. She does a quick set of push-ups and sit-ups, 25 each. Then she hears the shower stop. She can't help imagine Logan standing there nak... she quickly shakes out of her daze when Logan walks out with only a towel wrapped around him. Max quickly grabs her clothes and disappears into the shower.   
  
Logan grins as Max bolts into the bathroom. He changes into the sweater and pants that Max set out for him and runs a comb through his hair. Then he puts on a pair of white ankle socks and pulls on his lug sole leather shoes. Looking around the room and begins t tidy up. First he makes the bed, then he picks up the clothes Max left in a pile on the floor and puts them in the hamper in the corner. After meticulously walking around fixing little things Max emerges from the bathroom wearing a rather tight pair of pants and her red sweater which shows just a little of her firm stomach.   
  
"Max, you look great." Logan says almost drooling.  
  
"You sure? It's not too informal?" she asks him turning her back to toss her towel in the hamper.  
  
"Yeah, you look fantastic. Aunt Lori, Uncle Joseph, Carmen, and Marcus are waiting for us downstairs." Logan says opening the door for Max.  
  
They walk downstairs again hand in hand and Max sees Carmen and AMrcus sitting on the floor next to the fire and Lori and Joseph sitting on the couch. Just then Max remembers that she doesn't have gifts for all these people.   
  
"Logan, you do the whole gift thing right?"  
  
"Yeah don't worry about it, I took care of everything." Logan reassures her as they walk over and sit next to Carmen and Marcus.  
  
"OK well now that the late risers are here," Lori says "we can get this thing on the road."  
  
Joseph reaches under the tree and begins to hand out gifts to everyone. Finally there is only one gift left. Logan grabs it and reads the name on the tag.   
  
"To: Max   
With Love: ???"  
  
Logan hands the box to Max. It's so big she has to set it in her lap. She unwraps the box only to find another box inside of it, and one inside of that. She keeps unwrapping empty boxes until there is only one tiny box left. It is black velvet. Max looks at Logan and opens the tiny box, inside is a diamond ring. Max takes it out and with a puzzled look on her face glances at Logan.  
  
"Max, I've loved you for so long, I will continue to love you forever regardless of how you answer my next question," Logan takes the ring out of her hand, "Max, will you marry me?"  
  
Max swallows a lump in her throat and tears well up in her eyes. Unable to say anything she nods her head 'yes'. Logan slips the ring onto her finger and kisses her then grabs her in a huge hug. Max thinks to herself 'I know now, this definatly is the best Christmas ever.'  
  
The End 


End file.
